Teaching Resources
This page includes a variety of resources that may be useful to Xavier faculty in their teaching. Looking for other information that you do not find here? Let us know at cte@xavier.edu
Syllabus design & Xavier policies
Course Design
General Guides
From Science Education Resources Center (SERC) - higher education pedagogical resources:
- Course design tutorials and models focused especially on geoscience courses
- Overview of five different approaches to course design, including "backwards design" and the "assignment-centered" model of Walvoord and Breihan
Student Learning Outcomes
Action Words Linked to Bloom's Taxonomy (pdf)
Xavier's Office of Institutional Research has identified further resources for designing program-level student learning outcomes and evaluating student learning.
Learning Taxonomies
A brief overview of Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of cognitive learning from Vanderbilt's CFT - and an example of applying his taxonomy to questions about a photograph
Essential Learning Outcomes of the AAC&U's Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP)
Creative Assignments
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
CATs are usually quick, non-graded, in-class activities to provide instructors and students useful feedback about the learning process as it is occurring. Vanderbilt's CFT provides a brief introduction to CATs.
This list of 50 CATs (pdf) is organized according to type of learning, knowledge, skill, or learner reaction (from Thomas A. Angelo and Patricia Cross).
Syllabus Design & Xavier Policies
There is no standard syllabus format for every course at Xavier. Check with your department to see if there
are departmental or college requirements for your syllabi.
The Center for Teaching Excellence offers this Syllabus Template, with suggested language to describe
University policies and student support services. Note that instructions are provided in red on the template and
should be replaced with the suggested language or your own phrasing.
Here are additional resources at Xavier that you may want to reference when writing your syllabus:
- Academic integrity at Xavier, including definitions, faculty and student resources, and reporting process
- University catalog
- Academic calendar and schedule of final exams
Suggested syllabus statement about religious observance (from the Xavier University Student Handbook): "If religious observance will cause a student to be absent from class or otherwise affect his or her ability to complete academic assignments, he or she must notify the instructor in advance and make necessary arrangements to complete the entire course."
Classroom Strategies
- Take It On is an initiative that aims to help the Xavier community seek out difference and explore common ground
- Politics in the Classroom, Instructor Resources (pdf) - this list includes resources about facilitating classroom discussions about challenging political topics and general resources on civil discourse
K. Patricia Cross Academy - free instructional videos and downloadable resources related to implementing high-impact, evidence-based teaching techniques that improve student learning